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John McLendon was a pioneer in the sport of basketball. But his connections to the NCAA include ties to both the Kansas Jayhawks and Duke Blue Devils programs.
The Duke Blue Devils and Kansas Jayhawks are preparing for another memorable showdown on Tuesday night. The two teams have often gone toe-to-toe in the Champions Classic. The event has become a tradition at the beginning of the college basketball season. Both teams are frequent participants.
Duke and Kansas have been known as "blueblood" programs over the years. They often find each other near the top of the college basketball rankings, while bringing in a plethora of talent. Both Kansas and Duke are stitched into the history of the sport of college basketball.
McLendon was the first college basketball coach to win three straight national championships. He was born in Hiawatha, Kansas, which is located 90 miles northwest of Kansas City. After graduating from high school in Kansas City, McLendon attended Springfield College in Springfield, Massachusetts.
While in college, McLendon studied the work of James Naismith, who was credited with inventing the game of basketball in 1891. McLendon went out on a limb, introducing himself to Naismith and proposing an idea. He asked Naismith if he would be his mentor. Naismith agreed, and the two got to work.
John McLendon and the "Secret Game"
At the time, the working relationship between Naismith and McLendon was described as challenging. In a time in which racial tension was high, many outsiders didn't understand the pairing.
After spending his time going to college in Massachusetts, McLendon realized that he didn't need to travel up north. His mentor had just taken a job as a coach at the University of Kansas. McLendon would go on to deal with racism, especially while trying to learn under Naismith.
Eventually, he would go on to spark an idea. McLendon went out of his way, to provide a couple of ideas for the game of basketball. His first idea involved the concept of the fast break offense. It involved having a strategic plan to push the tempo of the game before the defense could get set.
McLendon also went on to establish the idea for the full-court press. It would be a strategic plan for a defense to use their speed and aggressiveness to force the opposition into mistakes.
He would go on to become the first black graduate to receive a bachelor's degree from the University of Kansas in physical education. After receiving his degree, John McLendon took an assistant coaching job at North Carolina College. It was the start of something special. McLendon would go on to become one of the most successful HBCU coaches of all time.
At the start of his coaching career, McLendon's teams were mainly restricted to playing against other only all-black teams. That was until John McLendon had an idea. He would be part of "The Secret Game," which was a matchup against the University of Duke. It would become the first college basketball contest in which blacks and whites were on the same floor together.
After studying his "basketball career" at the University of Kansas, John McLendon would go on to transform the game with a secret appearance against the Duke Blue Devils. He would go on to be enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. He was also named to the College Basketball Hall of Fame.
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